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IN a market where prices continue to decline, many property owners are cutting estate agents out of the equa- tion to save on costs. Consequently the ‘Sell it Yourself’, or ‘SITY’ sector, as it is known, is gathering momen- tum.

The company trading as Sellity- ourself.ie has been the major success story across Ireland in this arena, and it has its head office in Ennis.

Niamh O’Meara-Daly explained the company’s offer. “Sellityourself. ie provides property sellers with a complete selling package, everything from an online property listing, “For Sale’ signboard, pointer board and a newspaper advertising service.

“What’s more, the €195 fee on Sellityourself.ie is a one-time fee and your property is listed on the site until it’s sold.”

The key difference between this and high street estate agency serv- ices is that it’s down to the sellers to show their house to potential buyers and they handle the price discussions themselves, before handing the sale over to a Solicitor to deal with all the legal aspects and to close the sale.

While Sellityourself.ie do not val- ue property, they can advise on how to value property as well as recom- mending independent valuers if re- quired.

According to Niamh, “One of the main advantages of selling property

without an agent is the financial ben- efit. When you sell your property yourself you do not incur the cost of an agents commission. The average commission charged by agents in Ireland is 1.5 per cent, to which VAT is added at 21.5 per cent, so the sav- ing can be substantial.

As she sees it, “The other main ad- vantage of SITY property sales is that you have total control over the sell- ing process. Property owners sell-

ing direct know the exact number of buyers viewing their property online. They also know the precise number of phone and email enquiries they are receiving and they can speak directly to the buyers to gauge their level of interest.

If interest is low they can take meas- ures to increase it, whether through readjusting the price or through advertising. With an estate agent, you’re relying on their feedback. In

some cases, this feedback may not be entirely accurate, as the agent has their own reputation to protect”.

Many property owners choose to sell on Sellityourself.ie because they feel that they can do a better job of promoting their property to potential buyers, as they know it so much bet- ter than any agent could.

A recent survey by Sellityourself.ie showed that this is the main reason why people choose to sell on their

own.

Sellityourselfie is growing from strength to strength since its launch in 2006 and Niamh believes, “Prop- erty sellers are delighted at the pros- pect of having an alternative option to an estate agent, both in terms of saving money and dealing directly with the buyers. Also, because of the low cost, sellers have the option to advertise on Sellityourself.ie along- side an estate agent, provided they have not given sole selling rights to the agent.”

They also have the option of reduc- ing the price considerably if pushing for a quick sale as no commission will be incurred at the end of the sale. Many sellers have commented on the greater flexibility associated with selling themselves.”

There are currently 26 property listings in the County Clare area on the sellityourself.1e website. Two of the most recent properties are a three bed, semi-detached home in the Riv- erside Development of Ard Caoin, Gort Road, Ennis while in Tulla an impressive country house set on a half acre site has recently been add- ed.

Visit http://www.sellityourself.ie and select Clare from the search drop down in order to view all property listings in the county.

Sellityourselfie support staff are available to deal with enquiries, on Lo-Call 1850 663333 or on 065 6868630.

MAJOR increases in payments to elderly people are needed if they are to cope with the recession, with many retired people living on the poverty line as it is, it was claimed this week.

Age Action West is calling on the Government to act to prevent wide- spread poverty among older people living on a fixed income.

James Reddiough of Age Action explained that a weekly income of €203 1s considered to be the line be- low which people are living in pov- Saas

‘Most people living on a state pen- sion are living on between €219 and €232 per week. That close to the poverty line and when you consider that’s to clothe, feed themselves, pay bills and in rural areas, pay for their own transport that’s not a lot of mon-

ey.” Said James.

Age Action wants increases in the State pension, the Living Alone AI- lowance and other entitlements such as the €10 fuel allowance to help pensioners make ends meet.

There are between 1,500 and 2,000 additional deaths each winter, com- pared to the summer, many of whom are older people who die because they cannot afford to keep them- selves warm,’ Age Action chief ex- ecutive Robin Webster said. “Lives could be saved by increasing the fuel allowance paid to the poorest pen- sioners.’”’

DOMINIC Considine, founder and chief executive of Loyaltybuild, the Ennis-based marketing loyalty com- pany which has been acquired by US firm, Affinion for a sum believed to be in the region of €25muillion.

A native of Kilmihil, Mr Considine will remain as chief executive of the company which employs about 70 staff devising and managing market- ing loyalty programmes on behalf of client companies.

Other shareholders in Loyalty- build, which was established by Mr Considine as Shannon Showcase in 1999, are Sean Lyne and Domhnal Slattery, who are also investors in

Traveller families in need of permanent homes

Plan for Traveller accommodation ‘bodes ill

AHEAD of the four day National Hunt Festival at Leopardstown, which begins on Friday, St Stephen’s Day, trainer Willie Mullins has con- firmed he could run_ stablemates Cousin Vinny and Hurricane Fly in the same race for the second time in a month.

The possibility of the two meeting could arrive on Saturday as over the weekend, Mullins said that there was “every possibility” that Cousin Vin- ny will run.

Last year, Cousin Vinny was the first horse to complete the Chelten- ham and Punchestown bumper dou- ble and Mullins confirmed that is he does go on Saturday, it wouldn’t pose a problem to the trainer if he and Hurricane Fly run in the same race.

“Cousin Vinny’s hurdling debut was very pleasing and he obviously has loads of speed as you need that to win three bumpers,” said Mullins. ‘“He’s won on good ground and on soft ground but his best form is on good ground.”

Mullins also stated that Hurricane Fly has had some invaluable experi- ence of late. “He had a lot of expert- ence form his runs in the spring,” he continued. “He stepped back to two miles last time but two and a half miles isn’t a problem either as he was second in a Grade One and won a

Grade Three over that trip.”

Meanwhile, over the weekend, the big news from Thurles was that odds on favourite Solwhit failed to land the Jockey Hotel Hurdle on Sunday.

With Paddy Flood on board, Nine- tieth Minute was steered to success despite Charles Byrnes’ Solwhit go- ing to the track priced at 1-3.

To Flood’s credit, though, Ninetieth Minute looked to be in control of the race from start to finish and despite a strong fight from Solwhit, he was un- able to get ahead in the race and ulti- mately lost by three parts of a length at the line.

However, it wasn’t a total negative experience for Byrnes as Dromin Hill Echo, with Lenny Flynn on board, landed the Molony Cup Handicap Chase in emphatic fashion.

Afterwards, Byrnes also confirmed that he will go at Leopardstown and Limerick and will most likely go to Limerick under a mandatory pen- alty.

There was further positive news for Byrnes when his 50-1 shot Bit of a Devil took the INH Stallion Owners’ EBF Maiden Hurdle.

Two out, Bit of a Devil took control of the race and bombed home in what was a first winner for jockey Justin AY Lora) ens

THERE was one election at the 2008 GAA convention — for the five places up for grabs among seven contestants for honour of joining board chairman Michael O’Neill and secretary Pat Fitzgerald as delegates to the 2009 GAA Congress.

Robert Frost (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Noel Walsh (St Joseph’s Mailtown), Syl O’Connor (Sixmilebridge), Ger Hickey (Feakle) and John O’Sullivan (Ruan) were the candidates who won out, with board vice-chairman John-

ny Hill (Lissycasey) and longtime Congress delegate Gabriel Keating (Naomh Eoin) losing out. Meanwhile, only one position on the Clare County Board team re- mains vacant, as convention failed to election a Youth Officer. Both Michael O’Connor (Crusheen) and Sean O’Halloran (Bodyke) were nominated for the position, but de- clined to let their names go forward. “It would be very selfish of me to allow my name go forward. I have the position of cathaoirleach of Bord na nOg Jomaint and the job of youth

officer 1s a very important position. I decline my name going forward,” said Sean O’ Halloran.

‘Sean has a lot to offer as youth of- ficer and I would hope that he would re-consider,’ said secretary Pat Fit- zgerald.

“IT too an important a position to be dual mandated,’ responded O’Halloran. “It is a crucial position, especially in the modern era with the development of our games. I believe that the position should stand on its own merits. On that basis I won’t al- low my name go forward.”

HOPES in Eire Og hurling circles that Ogonnelloe were about to hand them a Christmas present of staying up at senior level for the 2009 cham- pionship season have been quashed WOM Wiere) © a

Word was rife within Eire Og ranks that Ogonnelloe were on the cusp of lodging an application with the Clare County Board to be regraded from senior to intermediate level for 2009.

Depleted playing numbers and the possible transfer of a couple of high profile players from the club were thought to be at the root of such a move by the east Clare club that has punched above its weight at senior level for the past decade.

However, speaking to

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has dashed hopes that the Govern- ment may abandon its new air travel tax stating that the air sector already has preferential treatment.

In response to a series of Dail ques- tions on the new €10 tax, the minis- ter said he has tried to be as fair as possible in looking at areas for ad- ditional tax revenues. He said that fuel used by commercial airlines was

completely exempt from tax, so it al- ready had considerable preferential treatment. He said the new air travel tax will come into force from March 30 next year

“Ireland is not unique in regard to applying a tax on air travel. A number of countries within the EU apply similar taxes including the UK, France and the Netherlands, as do Australia and New Zealand. The proposed rates for the Irish air travel tax are not unreasonable both for

shorter and longer journeys, when compared to rates in other countries.

“It should be recognised that tour- ists will only be subject to the tax on their return journey. The additional €10 or €2 in the context of a much larger purchasing decision involv- ing travel, hotel expenditures etc. shouldn’t have much of an effect on tourist numbers.

“I appreciate the airline industry continues to go through a difficult period. However, this difficult trad-

ing period has, in addition to weak world economic activity, been largely driven by a massive spike in oil pric- es. Oil prices have now halved from the all-time high prices experienced earlier in the year.”

On his recent visit to Shannon, Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary described the new air travel tax “as an amazingly stupid and re- gressive measure’.

“By all means have €10 taxes in Dublin, but you are not going to

be able to support traffic at Knock, Shannon and Kerry with €10 flat tax particularly during winter. We don’t Oppose a visitor tax over the short term in principle, somewhere some- how we all are going to have to pay a little bit more tax.”

However, Mr O’Leary said that it 1s fundamentally wrong that a person flying business class paying €3,000 – €4,000 paying €10 tax and an or- dinary Joe paying the same out of Shannon.

IF variety is the spice of life, then biodiversity is the very fabric of life and the Clare Biodiversity group of the county council is celebrating the Banners rich heritage of plants and animals with a new website.

The new Clare Biodiversity web- site, 1s a central information point for biodiversity in Clare, linking up other organisations working in biodi- versity, biodiversity events, projects and competition, and gives useful information on how to help the en- vironment.

Biodiversity is the variety of all life on earth from the largest whale to the smallest micro-organism, includ- ing human beings, along the way. The website incudes information on how we can help stop the decline of biodiversity, with good advice about avoiding insecticides and herbicides in the garden, having a compost heap, recycling, using public trans- port, walking or cycling to save on fuel, turning off sockets to save en- ergy, feeding birds in the winter and buying local and/or organic foods.

The website, which is also as Gaeilge, has information about the various biodiversity initiatives and projects in Clare as well as sections on habitats, competitions, video clips, action plans, news and events, biodiversity areas, and links to other organisations involved with environ- mental concerns.

The site is designed as a tool for schools, groups, individuals and families who want to know more about taking care of the rich variety of life in the county.

The new site can be found at www. clarebiodiversity.ie

Among the projects which the Bio- diversity group has carried out in Clare are the mapping of habitats in the county and a survey of the Clare wetlands.

Approximately a third of County Clare has been mapped on a field-by- field basis and put into digital format and a desktop survey to accumulate all the information available on the wetlands of County Clare was car- ried out in 2008. This information is now accessible in digital map for- jeatelm